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France, same. I have moved to the US very recently. I have actually filled my 2017 French revenue form today. It took me 10 minutes and that's because I had

France, same. I have moved to the US very recently. I have actually filled my 2017 French revenue form today. It took me 10 minutes and that's because I had to find how much I had paid home cleaning services (home employment is deductible), it could have been done in 2. Even after paying 180 dollars to HRBlock, my US taxes were way less straightforward and took me hours. The 2 jobs are comparable and should be just as easy to declare for.

dominotw 9y ago
Why was it more complicated compared to France. Curious whats different for you.
- on_and_off 9y ago
  Most of it is prefilled in my french declaration. I had to check a box saying that I don't own a TV (so I don't have to pay that tax) I also had to connect to my home cleaning service website in order to know exactly how much I paid them in 2017. That's pretty much it, everything else was already filled. Since my employer has declared that I worked for them (I mean .. that's the case for most people except black market), the FISC (french IRS) already knows how much I made that year. If you are freelancing, or another regime different from full time job in a company, it might be more complicated. but for 90% of the people, you connect to the gov website, approve your taxes and that's it. US has federal and state taxes. Both are obscure. AFAIK, there is no government website to do your taxes. No prefilling either of course. So I had to google a lot, look for my w2, etc. I used hr block since it looked easier than figuring out everything myself. It was still more of an headache than my french taxes and I don't think that it was only because of my expat status.
  - dominotw 9y ago
    > there is no government website to do your taxes. i was curious about your comment > Even after paying 180 dollars to HRBlock, my US taxes were way less straightforward and took me hours. I used turbotax for both state and federal it imported and prefilled my adp w2 and imported my tax account from etrade.com. It took me 10 minutes to finish it.
    - on_and_off 9y ago
      To sum it up better : you don't need turbotax at all in France. http://www.impots.gouv.fr/ http://www.impots.gouv.fr/ . (it would be taxes.gov.us here ) already has all the prefill that all these services have. I guess it can always be argued that maybe corporations are more cost effective than a government. We would need to compare the figures though, in France corporations don't spend millions bribing the government in order to do abandon the idea of improving the tax system.
      - dominotw 9y ago
        yes I agree with you completely but thats a totally different argument than your original comment > Even after paying 180 dollars to HRBlock, my US taxes were way less straightforward and took me hours.
baddox 9y ago
I’m assuming your US taxes were more complicated than reporting W-2 income. My US taxes consist only of reporting one W-2 (or two when I change jobs), and don’t take more than 10 minutes. Most of that time is spent trying to figure out how and where to access the W-2 from my employer’s payroll provider.
- fnord123 9y ago
  If you have to file in France and the US she/he probably needs to file 1040 and 1116. And if you live outside the US you can't file online. Because the US is decades behind in this stuff.
- jermaustin1 9y ago
  So you don't have any investment accounts, retirement accounts, hobby/self-employment income and deductions, charitable giving? I've only met a couple of people who can fill out ONLY a 1040/1040-EZ, and that was because they were still in college or younger.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - chimeracoder 9y ago
    > I've only met a couple of people who can fill out ONLY a 1040/1040-EZ, and that was because they were still in college or younger. Nearly half of all people file their taxes with a 1040EZ or a 1040 (instead of a 1040A).
    - humanrebar 9y ago
      True. You need to have charitable giving, etc., and make enough money that the standard deduction might not apply. It's generally a problem for people making enough money to buy their own home, etc.
  - baddox 9y ago
    No investment accounts that pay dividends, and in most years I haven't sold/liquidated any accounts. I did forget that I do submit a 1099-INT that my bank provides for the small amount of interest I earn in one savings account. No retirement accounts other than my 401k. I'm under the impression that there are no tax implications until I retire and start withdrawing (because my contributions are already deducted from my taxable income on my W-2 form). No hobby or self-employment income. No charitable giving or other deductions that I consider worth the trouble of filing.
lotsofpulp 9y ago
I've always been under the impression that H&R block tax preparer are not very qualified employees who aren't regulated in any way, and don't have to really undergo any rigorous training. It's worth ponying up a little extra for a CPA, or spending a little extra time reading the instructions on the tax forms and googling/asking online for answers.

dominotw 9y ago

Why was it more complicated compared to France. Curious whats different for you.

on_and_off 9y ago
Most of it is prefilled in my french declaration. I had to check a box saying that I don't own a TV (so I don't have to pay that tax) I also had to connect to my home cleaning service website in order to know exactly how much I paid them in 2017. That's pretty much it, everything else was already filled. Since my employer has declared that I worked for them (I mean .. that's the case for most people except black market), the FISC (french IRS) already knows how much I made that year. If you are freelancing, or another regime different from full time job in a company, it might be more complicated. but for 90% of the people, you connect to the gov website, approve your taxes and that's it. US has federal and state taxes. Both are obscure. AFAIK, there is no government website to do your taxes. No prefilling either of course. So I had to google a lot, look for my w2, etc. I used hr block since it looked easier than figuring out everything myself. It was still more of an headache than my french taxes and I don't think that it was only because of my expat status.
- dominotw 9y ago
  > there is no government website to do your taxes. i was curious about your comment > Even after paying 180 dollars to HRBlock, my US taxes were way less straightforward and took me hours. I used turbotax for both state and federal it imported and prefilled my adp w2 and imported my tax account from etrade.com. It took me 10 minutes to finish it.
  - on_and_off 9y ago
    To sum it up better : you don't need turbotax at all in France. http://www.impots.gouv.fr/ http://www.impots.gouv.fr/ . (it would be taxes.gov.us here ) already has all the prefill that all these services have. I guess it can always be argued that maybe corporations are more cost effective than a government. We would need to compare the figures though, in France corporations don't spend millions bribing the government in order to do abandon the idea of improving the tax system.
    - dominotw 9y ago
      yes I agree with you completely but thats a totally different argument than your original comment > Even after paying 180 dollars to HRBlock, my US taxes were way less straightforward and took me hours.

baddox 9y ago

I’m assuming your US taxes were more complicated than reporting W-2 income. My US taxes consist only of reporting one W-2 (or two when I change jobs), and don’t take more than 10 minutes. Most of that time is spent trying to figure out how and where to access the W-2 from my employer’s payroll provider.

fnord123 9y ago
If you have to file in France and the US she/he probably needs to file 1040 and 1116. And if you live outside the US you can't file online. Because the US is decades behind in this stuff.
jermaustin1 9y ago
So you don't have any investment accounts, retirement accounts, hobby/self-employment income and deductions, charitable giving? I've only met a couple of people who can fill out ONLY a 1040/1040-EZ, and that was because they were still in college or younger.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- chimeracoder 9y ago
  > I've only met a couple of people who can fill out ONLY a 1040/1040-EZ, and that was because they were still in college or younger. Nearly half of all people file their taxes with a 1040EZ or a 1040 (instead of a 1040A).
  - humanrebar 9y ago
    True. You need to have charitable giving, etc., and make enough money that the standard deduction might not apply. It's generally a problem for people making enough money to buy their own home, etc.
- baddox 9y ago
  No investment accounts that pay dividends, and in most years I haven't sold/liquidated any accounts. I did forget that I do submit a 1099-INT that my bank provides for the small amount of interest I earn in one savings account. No retirement accounts other than my 401k. I'm under the impression that there are no tax implications until I retire and start withdrawing (because my contributions are already deducted from my taxable income on my W-2 form). No hobby or self-employment income. No charitable giving or other deductions that I consider worth the trouble of filing.

lotsofpulp 9y ago

I've always been under the impression that H&R block tax preparer are not very qualified employees who aren't regulated in any way, and don't have to really undergo any rigorous training. It's worth ponying up a little extra for a CPA, or spending a little extra time reading the instructions on the tax forms and googling/asking online for answers.